The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for glueing the tail of a web of material forming a roll or log. It includes means for unwinding the tail of the material wound up to form a log; means for detecting the end of said tail; means for applying glue on the web material whereby said glue serves to glue the end of the tail onto the log; means for rewinding the log and glueing the tail thereon; and means for transporting said log.
Apparatuses of this general type are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,974 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,130. In the Italian Patent Application 9504 A/90 and in the corresponding foreign applications (among them the EP Application No. 91830427.0, Publication No. 0481923), a machine is disclosed working according to a novel principle. The latter does not provide a nozzle crossing the machine and spreading a layer of glue onto the unwound tail edge of the log, nor for the same log to be rewound afterwards, but it provides for rolling the log with its tail edge open over a slit which dispenses glue in small amounts so as to lay down a strip of glue onto the periphery thereof in a region very close to the point where the end part of the tail edge will drop after the rewinding. In this embodiment, flexible means are provided which support cradles for receiving logs to be glued with each roll or log being lifted by means of the flexible member after having unwound the tail of the log at a first station. The tail of the web is laid down onto a flat surface combined with means for controlling the length of said tail, which means control the rewinding of said tail until it reaches a predetermined residual length.
The invention relates to an apparatus of the above-mentioned type, which makes it possible to obtain remarkable advantages, among which are:
better control of the log during glueing thereof, PA1 reduced number of moving elements, PA1 reduced speed of translating elements, PA1 more compact and economical construction.
These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following description.